Build: Encoding Video (and Animated GIFs!) in Compressor

While I’m waiting to be able to announce my next book, I’m going to show off some different kinds of creative projects in the first part of weekly livestream. This time, I show the least-known of Apple’s pro video apps, Compressor, and look at its tight integration with Final Cut Pro for doing end-of-project encoding. This lets you target different kinds of destinations like video hosting sites or iOS devices, and lets you apply video and audio filters to counteract the effects of lossy compression. And — who knew? — Compressor makes animated GIFs too.

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Play: Overload (0.9)

A year after the last time I streamed Overload, this Kickstarter-backed spiritual descendant of “Descent” is one version away from its golden master release. So, it seemed like a good time to check back in. Since the last time I looked, the game has gotten faster and more generous with support items, so instead of lengthy firefights with single robots like in the early access builds, you tend to have short, fast fights, and often have to deal with packs of robots.

Also, playing Overload while encoding two streams in Wirecast (the live one and an archive) may be the hardest I’ve ever pushed my 2013 Mac Pro. The fan was really blowing at the end, and Wirecast tells me I dropped over 16,000 frames, which is why this video has a fairly low framerate. (The Mythical Modern Modular Mac Pro cannot come soon enough!)

Read: Muv-Luv Alternative, Episode 5, Part 4

Having spent three hours back in his own timeline (the world of Muv-Luv Extra), Takeru spends time with the one who made it possible: Kasumi, the withdrawn psychic who keeps him mentally tethered to this world. He takes her outside and up to the tree behind the school, and learns more about her fearsome powers, and continues to wonder about her seeming connection to Sumika.